Penske Will Switch To Ford In 2013

Roger Penske will switch to Ford in 2013

In five words or more

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120301/NASCAR/120309999

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Permalink Reply by Matt/Canuck on March 1, 2012 at 2:19pm

Boooooo Yeah BABY

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on March 1, 2012 at 2:38pm

Dodge is already in off-road. They dropped their desert program a several years back, but came back huge with Short Course racing. I would love to see them support RGM at Dakar, but I would bet other forms of motorsports means drifting before Dakar. I hope not, but that sort of stuff seems to be the trend. Or they will dump a ton of money into a spec road racing series like the old Barber Dodge series, but use a current production car like the Challenger or the new 2013 Dart coming out. Cross your fingers as I would love to see RGM get some manufacture support on all fronts including Dakar!

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Permalink Reply by WJM on March 1, 2012 at 3:04pm

Dodge Dart + Road Racing. That's just wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Tooltime on March 1, 2012 at 3:11pm

no WJM, the F-16 Falcon = Lawn Dart, now thats just way wrong!

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Permalink Reply by BajaTuner on March 1, 2012 at 3:13pm

On a side note. What is with american car companies and their inability to produce even a decent looking compact/midsized car. That thing looks horible...

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Permalink Reply by Josh Fisher on March 1, 2012 at 5:29pm

Dodge isn't really producing the Dart, they're just talking off the Alfa-Romeo bumper covers & badges and replacing them with Dodge ones.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on March 1, 2012 at 5:33pm

and that is suppose to make it better?

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Permalink Reply by Billy on March 1, 2012 at 7:41pm

Amen, it seems all the designs today are for rental fleets.

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Permalink Reply by Corey T on March 1, 2012 at 3:19pm

I think one team that I could see possibly going to Dodge actually would be Gibbs. Even though I would think they are the flag ship for Toyota for some reason it seems like MWR is more of the flag ship operation.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Martinez on March 1, 2012 at 3:36pm

Not to miss ....not to be be misunderstood: "By saying RGM should get some top notch _______under the hood I was ball parking a thought pattern to the effect that a few good showings sure would help his cause.

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Permalink Reply by Dave-O on March 1, 2012 at 4:15pm

Toyota just combined their engine operations with Gibbs - that's a big relationship to end.

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on March 1, 2012 at 4:02pm

Per Jenna Fryer;

Penske says Dodge will take over development of the 2013 Charger ...

Roger Penske says no agreement to use Roush Yates engines; that's under review. He's evaluating the engine part.
This wasn't about money," Penske makes clear, indicating he wanted a manufacturer with deeper alliances. He said it opens more alignments and benchmark against other teams w/same manufacturer.

Penske: "It was apparent we need to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, and we've been trying to do it alone"

Per Bob Pockrass;

Penske tells Bob Pockrass of "Scene Daily" that he'll run 2 Cup cars, 2 Nationwide cars and 1 Nationwide car will eventually move to Cup.

Penske indicates that Ford offered long-term deal, which is important. Penske says he will evaluate what to do about engines.

Bob Pockrass claims the reason this was announced so early in the season is Penske was the ones who were developing the new 2013 Charger.

The decision to make the manufacture switch was decided before Daytona. And the decision did not come overnight.

Penske said Dodge is fully committed to NASCAR.

Biggest issue for Dodge is engines. Hard to see other current engine shops making switch. So maybe independent engine builder or Dodge itself.